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Third baseman Odisseus Toribio was the only inductee in 1990 for the Central American Baseball Association Hall of Fame. Toribio earned a first ballot nod with 92.2%. Only two other players were above 50%, both at 52.9%. CF Wilmer Mora was on his third ballot and closer Leo Otero was in his ninth.



One player was dropped after ten ballots in closer Rodrigo Montero. He had a 15-year career split between CABA and MLB, winning Reliever of the Year twice with 295 saves, a 2.39 ERA, 847.2 innings, 992 strikeouts, and 24.1 WAR. Those tallies would be very borderline even in total, and that was his full career including four seasons in MLB. Still, Montero managed to get 44.1% on his debut before ending at 7.6%.



Odisseus “Thrash” Toribio – Third Base – Torreon Tomahawks – 92.2% First Ballot

Odisseus Toribio was a 5’11’’, 200 pound right-handed third baseman from Santiago; the second largest city in the Dominican Republic. Toribio was a terrific leadoff hitter with excellent contact skills and speed. He was outstanding at avoiding strikeouts and putting the ball in play, but he very rarely drew walks. Toribio wasn’t just a singles slap hitter, as he averaged around 25-30 doubles and another 25-30 triples per season. This gave him a solid slugging rate despite generally hitting single-digit home runs per season. Toribio was quick and a very smart baserunner who was successful on 70% of his steal attempts. He was a career third baseman who also made about ¼ of his starts as a designated hitter. Defensively, he was viewed as below average, but not abysmal.

Toribio attended a prospect camp in Santiago as a 16-year old in 1965 and was noticed by a scout from Torreon. The expansion Tomahawks were only a few years into existing at this point, but they thought Toribio had potential to be a great player down the road. They signed him and put him into their developmental academy, where he stayed until debuting with some pinch hit appearances in 1969 at age 20. Toribio was a part time starter the next season, then took over the full-time job in 1971. That year was his first of four straight Silver Sluggers.

With the Tomahawks, Toribio led the Mexican League four times in hits, three times in triples, three times in stolen bases, four times in batting average, once in OBP, and once in WAR. He very nearly took home an MVP in this stretch, taking second in 1973 and third in 1974. Both of those seasons saw 9+ WAR. After the 1974 season, he signed a five-year extension with Torreon for $1,694,000 and seemed to be the future of the young franchise. He was also a regular for the Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Championship, playing 102 games from 1970-84. In the WBC, Toribio had 92 hits, 49 runs, a .251/.296/.387 slash, 41 stolen bases, and 1.3 WAR.

Toribio missed nearly two months with back spasms in 1975, but bounced back with a strong 1976. This got Torreon to its second-ever playoff appearance, falling in the Mexican League Championship Series to Guadalajara. He surprised the Tomahawks though by opting out of the remaining three years of his deal, becoming a free agent at age 28. With Torreon, Toribio had 1339 hits, 589 runs, 185 doubles, 173 triples, a .352/.373/.537 slash, and 48.1 WAR. Despite the short tenure, he was one of the franchise’s first stars and Toribio’s #39 uniform would later get retired. He was also the first player to be inducted wearing the cap of an expansion franchise.

Toribio was feeling homesick and returned to his hometown of Santiago. He also cashed in as the Sailfish inked him to an eight-year, $3,026,000 deal. His debut season there saw him moved to DH and he led the Caribbean League in hits and triples. More back problems cost him much of 1978, but he was so good even in only 95 games that he won his fifth and final Silver Slugger. The back spasms were a recurring issue for the rest of his career and he’d miss a few weeks in each of the next four seasons. Toribio still led the league in triples twice, but his overall production and power declined a bit.

Still, Toribio was a solid starter and a hometown favorite in Santiago. He cemented his status as a favorite in 1979 as the Sailfish posted their first playoff berth in a decade. They went on a run and won the CABA Championship with Toribio earning CLCS MVP. In 10 playoff starts, he had 16 hits, 9 runs, 2 doubles, 3 triples, 2 home runs, 7 RBI, and 5 stolen bases.

The Sailfish dropped to 88 wins the next year, then were at the very bottom of the standings throughout the early 1980s. Toribio had his last full-time season in 1983, then found himself on the bench in 1984. He wasn’t re-signed when his contract was up with Santiago and no one picked him up in 1985. Toribio retired that winter at age 37. With the Sailfish, he had 1177 hits, 512 runs, 163 doubles, 155 triples, a .327/.344/.504 slash, and 27.8 WAR.

For his full career, Toribio posted 2516 hits, 1101 runs, 348 doubles, 328 triples, 112 home runs, 894 RBI, a 5.5% strikeout rate, 920 stolen bases, a .340/.359/.521 slash, 151 wRC+, and 75.9 WAR. At induction, the only CABA Hall of Famers with a better batting average was the legendary Prometheo Garcia and Kiko Velazquez. He didn’t have the longevity to rack up big accumulations and it wasn’t often easy for leadoff guys with low home run and RBI numbers to get noticed. To his advantage, Toribio was sixth all-time in triples and 15^th in stolen bases at induction. His popularity with both his hometown franchise and a new franchise helped and Toribio got in on the first ballot fairly easily with 92.2% of the vote as the lone 1990 CABA inductee.